MIBE Seminar: Responsive protein nanostructures as reporters for cell signaling in Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM)

Topic: Responsive protein nanostructures as reporters for cell signaling in Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM)

Speaker: Filipa Goncalves (Westmeyer Group)

Date and Time: Tuesday 28 May 2024, 1:00 pm

Abstract: Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM) is a technique that enables the visualization of biological events, both functionally and structurally, using fluorescence microscopy (FM) and electron microscopy (EM), respectively. The fundamental challenge lies in the paucity of reporters capable of reliably detecting changes in a cell across both microscopy modalities, thus preventing a comprehensive understanding of biological systems and their interactions. To address this limitation, we introduced EMcapsulins multiplexed gene reporters for CLEM. This approach involves the incorporation of fluorescent tags, metal-binding domains, calcium indicators, and other molecular moieties capable of detecting cellular events. Recent research in our group has demonstrated the readability of these nanostructures in EM, presenting distinguishable classes in mammalian cells, Drosophila, and mouse brains. Furthermore, these structures efficiently label cellular components in both FM and EM. One of our current foci is to engineer these nanostructures to respond effectively to biological stimuli, enabling the translation of cellular states with high sensitivity and temporal resolution in both FM and EM.